For a while it didn’t seem like Ridley Scott would ever make his long-promised (threatened?) sequel to Blade Runner, which suited most fans of the classic dystopian sci-fi flick just fine. But when director Denis Villeneuve and cinematographer Roger Deakins signed on, suddenly Blade Runner 2 was not only actually happening, but it sounded like a great idea. Although he was previously only rumored for a role in the sequel, Ryan Gosling is now confirming his part in the film, while Scott has offered details on what we might expect from the opening scene.

In an interview with Collider to promote The Big Short, Gosling confirmed his casting in Blade Runner 2, adding that Villeneuve and Deakins’ involvement drew him to the project, along with the script, of course. And while he couldn’t say much else, Gosling did reveal that it’s the next film he plans on shooting.

Meanwhile, MTime attended Scott’s talk at the AFI Film Festival, where he offered his vision for the opening scene of Blade Runner 2. The scene is based on Scott’s nixed idea for the original opening of the first Blade Runner, and the director revealed storyboards for the sequence a few years ago. This is how he describes it:

We decided to start the film off with the original starting block of the original film. We always loved the idea of a dystopian universe, and we start off at what I describe as a ‘factory farm’ – what would be a flat land with farming. Wyoming. Flat, not rolling – you can see for 20 miles. No fences, just plowed, dry dirt. Turn around and you see a massive tree, just dead, but the tree is being supported and kept alive by wires that are holding the tree up. It’s a bit like Grapes of Wrath, there’s dust, and the tree is still standing. By that tree is a traditional, Grapes of Wrath-type white cottage with a porch. Behind it at a distance of two miles, in the twilight, is this massive combine harvester that’s fertilizing this ground. You’ve got 16 Klieg lights on the front, and this combine is four times the size of this cottage. And now a spinner [a flying car] comes flying in, creating dust. Of course, traditionally chased by a dog that barks, the doors open, a guy gets out and there you’ve got Rick Deckard. He walks in the cottage, opens the door, sits down, smells stew, sits down and waits for the guy to pull up to the house to arrive. The guy’s seen him, so the guy pulls the combine behind the cottage and it towers three stories above it, and the man climbs down from a ladder – a big man. He steps onto the balcony and he goes to Harrison’s side. The cottage actually [creaks]; this guy’s got to be 350 pounds. I’m not going to say anything else – you’ll have to go see the movie.

That farm setting is not quite what you’d imagine the opening of a Blade Runner film to be, but it’s still intriguing nonetheless.

Gosling will be joined by original star Harrison Ford in Blade Runner 2, which doesn’t currently have a release date.